Alexandra V. Filippova, Senior Staff Attorney for the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, offers this look at the state of the legal system for women and girls in Haiti.

She draws attention to Section V in particular. This may aid our collective advocacy to demand protections, recourse, and full respect for women's rights. I copy the section below for your convenience without endnotes.

Haiti’s transitional government has struggled to perform its duties and has been further hampered by serious corruption scandals that remain substantively unaddressed. Its disappointing performance must be understood in terms of long-standing foreign interference enabling state capture by corrupt actors, most recently in the form of international intrusion into the transitional process that sidelined civil society preferences and installed actors affiliated with the Pati Ayisyen Tèt Kale (PHTK) on the Transitional Presidential Council without accountability safeguards. The result has been a predictable pattern of unaddressed corruption, power struggles, and ineffective government. And the transition is still largely neglecting to include women, which not only violates their constitutional and human rights, but also further threatens its effectiveness. 

Section V, Lack of equal rights & protections

The worsening security and humanitarian crises continue to impact individuals who are otherwise marginalized in distinct and compounded ways. This year saw further staggering increases in gender-based violence  (GBV), which primarily affects women and girls,  with growing evidence of escalating harms in situations of displacement.  Particularly notable is an explosion in the recruitment of children into armed groups, enabled by children’s greater vulnerability to growing displacement, hunger, and other privations.  Marginalized individuals continue to experience greater difficulty in accessing resources and protections, despite continued efforts by Haitian organizations, who are themselves vulnerable to the violence, to provide assistance. Underlying this dynamic are structural inequalities  that remain unaddressed because of successive corrupt and exclusionary governments.  The persistent marginalization of women’s leadership and priorities by Haiti’s transitional government  – in spite of legal obligations to the contrary  and concerted advocacy by feminist and human rights organizations  – indicates the pattern is being repeated.  This failure to allow the equitable participation by women in the transition process further undermines its effectiveness and sustainability.

• Systematic data for the reporting period is limited, but all evidence indicates that the scale and scope of GBV against women and girls have continued to climb to new levels of horror.  Between April and June, service providers in several neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince began to report an average of 40 cases of rape every day,  which would mean 1,200 cases per month just in those locations. This was an escalation from what had been a 40% increase in the number of GBV cases as of May (relative to March and April),  up from a six-fold increase as of March (relative to January and February).  There is some evidence that the unrelenting upwards trend decreased somewhat between July and October,  but the overall surge in violence  makes it more likely that this reflects decreased reporting instead. The UN also found a 1,000% increase in the number of sexual violence cases against children, particularly girls, in 2024 compared to last year.  The staggering number of reported cases is almost certainly only a fraction of the actual incidence of GBV, as fear of retaliation, re-victimization, and social exclusion; limited access to and insufficient services for victims; and lack of trust in the justice system result in chronic underreporting.
  
• Armed groups continue to use GBV as a tool for holding territory, punishing people living under the control of rival armed groups, and extortion.  Rape by multiple perpetrators is common, and victims include children under five as well as elderly women.  Kidnapped women and girls report being raped during captivity.  Assaults occur in public spaces, in transit, and in homes.  Nowhere is safe, though there is evidence that displaced women and girls are particularly vulnerable.  Displacement sites are in fact becoming hotspots for GBV,  including because they lack adequate security  and because women are both being extorted for sex to access scarce humanitarian assistance and prevented from seeking assistance through sexual violence.  While the vast majority of GBV is perpetrated by armed groups,  there is evidence that, at least at displacement sites, a meaningful percentage of assailants are other actors.  This combination of gendered vulnerability, weak protections, exploitation, and abuse is directly related to structural gender inequalities, including as evidenced by the exclusion of women from managing displacement sites.  Armed groups also continue to force women and girls into exploitative sexual relationships, including those they recruit as members.  Women and girls are sometimes compelled into accepting such arrangements by their own families.  Indirect consequences of omnipresent GBV include reduced movement and activity by women and girls,  which impedes their ability to access necessary services  or participate in economic activities.  The resulting loss of independence further increases vulnerability to abuse, exploitation, and survival sex.
  
• Victims of GBV continue to face systemic barriers to accessing critical services and judicial recourse.  In July, the UNFPA reported that approximately 841,000 people were in need of GBV assistance, such as temporary shelters, reproductive health kits, and other health services.  Yet as of October, UNFPA’s sexual and reproductive health and GBV services had received only 19% of the requisite funding.  Extensive insecurity-related closures of health facilities and support organizations have further limited access to medical and psychological care, and services remain virtually non-existent for most victims.  The 72-hour window for timely prophylaxis for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and emergency contraception often makes such care impossible,  and experts are concerned about resulting increases in HIV/AIDS cases compounded by insecurity-driven reductions to STI awareness, testing, and medication access programs.  Shelters and other services for survivors of GBV remain scarce, with government support virtually nonexistent and local civil society organizations struggling to deliver assistance in spite of grave personal risk.  Sexual assault remains trivialized in Haiti’s justice system, with scarce prosecutions and overly lenient sentences in the few observed cases; impunity for GBV remains the norm.
  
• The collapse of the healthcare system  continues to have particularly acute and life-threatening impacts on women, especially those who are pregnant or lactating.  Haiti currently has no public maternity center  and its maternal mortality ratio remains the highest in the Americas.  Extensive displacement has exacerbated these challenges even further, with displaced pregnant women often forced to give birth in unsafe conditions with no medical assistance.  Abortion remains illegal in all circumstances, including rape; and access to contraception and family planning, especially for women living in remote communities, is scarce.
  
• Haiti’s children are being consumed by the conflict. They are increasingly forced to participate as combatants: recruitment by armed groups  reportedly increased by 70% since last year,  with 30 to 50% of armed group members now under 18.  Children are being killed, raped, mutilated, and abused.  More than 350,000 children have been displaced,  increasing their vulnerability to other harms;  a growing number of children are separated from any responsible adult.  Education remains drastically reduced,  with over 90% of children in displacement sites no longer attending school.  The impact is particularly consequential for girls, children with disabilities, and other vulnerable populations historically marginalized in education.  Half of Haiti’s children currently face acute food insecurity,  with the World Food Programme (WFP) estimating that nearly one quarter are already stunted in their growth due to inadequate diets.  Hunger and displacement further compound children’s greater susceptibility to disease.  These intersecting harms serve to increase children’s vulnerability to armed group recruitment.  The consequences of that recruitment not only expose children to violence, forced criminal activity, and deep trauma  – including especially high risk of GBV for girls  – but also stigma, rejection, and violent reprisals by their communities.  For example, a ten-year-old was reportedly killed and burned by self-protection groups after being accused of armed group involvement.  Haiti’s juvenile justice system is fundamentally unable to provide children with humane due process or access to justice,  a limitation that, given high rates of child recruitment, must be thoughtfully addressed in contemplating operations against armed groups and any disarmament and transitional justice efforts.  
  
• Other marginalized groups continue to face severe discrimination, exclusion, and violence. Haiti remains extremely dangerous for LGBTQI+ persons, who report violent attacks, rape, extensive verbal harassment, and forced evictions due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.  There are no formal laws to protect LGBTQI+ persons from discrimination,  and access to healthcare – particularly for people living with HIV – is very limited.  Persons with disabilities also continue to face exclusion and are distinctly vulnerable to violence and insecurity.  For example, in August 2024, a school for children with hearing and visual impairments was stormed and looted by armed groups while children remained inside.  Haiti’s rural farmers, “peyizan,” continue to face significant disruptions and attacks,  with escalating impacts on supply chains and food shortages from smaller harvests.